Aurinia study interim results boost shares

June 16, 2017

Shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc
AUPH 1.52%
, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company operating in the field of nephrology and autoimmunity, ticked higher by more than 3 percent early Friday morning after the company presented results from an ongoing study.

Aurinia presented remission data from a global Phase 2B AURA-LV (AURA) study in lupus nephritis during the Annual European Congress of Rheumatoloty in Madrid.

The company’s data showed treatment with a low dose of voclosporin demonstrated a statistically improved efficacy over the control arm at both the 24- and 48-week periods. Moreover, data showed a doubling of remission rates at the 48-week period versus the control arm of 49 percent versus 24 percent.

In fact, among patients who received a low dose of voclosporin and achieved complete remission at 24 weeks, 100 percent of those remained in complete remission at 48 weeks, which establishes the durability of clinical response.

“Not only have more patients on voclosporin achieved complete remission, but they have done so faster. Patients on low-dose voclosporin are also maintaining remission for a longer duration — nearly twice that of the control group on average,” stated Vladimir A. Dobronravov, MD, PhD, DSc, a clinical investigator for the study. “The quicker we can bring patients into remission and keep them there, the more likely we are to delay or even prevent the deleterious effects of prolonged inflammation which can lead to irreversible kidney damage.”